This is obviously my second time with a little one, but I still have no idea what I am doing. I go back and forth between wearing him in a sling and letting him sleep with me, to thinking I need to get him on a better schedule and let him cry a little bit. From what I have read, there really is no better method, just whichever one you feel most comfortable with. . . I am not sure which one is for me. All I know is that the method we are using now, which is really no method, is not working. Last night and today have been horrible! No sleep for Liam or Kris or I.
I tried Babywise with Kale. It DID NOT work. I could do the scheduling okay, but the problem was laying him down to sleep. According to the book, you are not supposed to rock babies, let them sleep in their bouncer or swing, etc. You are supposed to lay them down and they go to sleep on their own. The book acknowledges that there will be some crying, and estimates the crying at 15-20 minutes. Well, this was not the case with Kale. He would cry for hours, even as a wee tike. So, that method did not work for us...but then again Kale didn't sleep through the night until he was 11 months old and routinely still does not sleep through the night.
I never wore Kale in a sling and thought I would give it try with Liam. Liam LOVES his moby wrap and I think he would let me carry him around it in all day. Liam also loves to sleep with me and Kris, I mean, what baby wouldn't?? However, we do not love to sleep with Liam. He is a terrible co-sleeper. I tried to let him cry it out the other day. He did quite well. He cried for 15 minutes the first time, then slept for 2 1/2 hours. Next time, he didn't cry at all. Then the next time, he cried for 8 minutes and then slept for 30 minutes, then woke up, and started crying again and wouldn't stop, so I"m not sure if it's effective at his age or not.
So, what I am thinking I will do is a little experiment. All of the books say it takes 3-5 days to develop a habit. For up to 5 days, I am going to try getting Liam on a strict sleeping schedule with no more sleeping with mom and dad. If it doesn't work after 5 days, I will embrace attachment parenting and see if that method works. I will report my findings back on my blog...this way all of my "followers" can hold me accountable for actually giving one method or the other a true chance.
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